This play through I'm playing a Stealthy Archer with Potion support.

Right now I have some soso apparel and 38 Alchemy, and the poisons I can make are like 4dmg over 10 secs, which is OK in theory, but the fight is long over by the time the effect ends, or I'm dead (MMM and OOO does that).

Has anyone though of making some kind of potion overhaul if possible.

Or am I just a Potion-newb and there is nothing to worry about ?

poisons for alchemy arent that great until you are 50+ skill and have higher than novice equipment. you wont do any burst poison damage like the ones you find off loot but you can stack multiple types of dmg with higher skill and more dmg with better equipment. eventually you will have for example a Damage health 4dmg over 10 seconds, Fire damage 6dmg over 12 seconds, Shock damage, 5dmg over 15 seconds... all of those in one poison so it definitely adds up.

Yeah poisons are a bit overpowered by the the end. I remember refusing to complete the Spirits have lease quest just so that I could have a steady stream of ectoplasm( or was it because I was using the ghosts to refill my atronach's magicka? anyway...) Then with that you make potions which do something like 8 damage over 36 seconds, and proceed to kill an entire town's guard populace by simply stabbing them once and waiting. best part was that at the end of it I could use a charm spell on a remaining guard and have him forgive my 'assaults.'

Even at low levels poisons are good for negating native healing, or healing spells/items, killing deer,messing up the crime system (like the above example), and just general damage assist. And who cares if you aren't getting the full effect of the poison? If a monster is about to kill you and you deliver a final blow barely killing it it still saved you with its 12 points of damage as opposed to the full 40.